Medivac flights out of Afghanistan and Iraq are now being re-routed from their usual landing point at Ramstein Air Base in Germany where flight operations are shut down due to the volcano in Iceland, according to several U.S. military officials.

All medivac flights are now being diverted to fly directly to Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, D.C. Medivac flights generally leave Afghanistan and Iraq and stop at Ramstein where patients are transferred to the U.S. military hospital at Landstuhl for follow-up on trauma care and stabilization.

Officials say at least one medivac flight is now scheduled to land at Andrews on Saturday on a direct flight from the warzone. It will have to be refueled in mid-air because of the long distance involved. Officials say medical care for the wounded will not be impacted by the change.

Earlier, the U.S. Air Force said that two bases in England, RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath, will be shut down for at least two days. That means dozens of U.S. Air Force F-15s and other fighter jets and tankers are not flying, and flights to Iraq and Afghanistan flying through that airspace are being diverted to other routes.

soundoff(35 Responses)

To Princess, every military family member, girl friends, boy friends, and significant other.
Thanks for serving our country and keeping us safe thru your sacrifices. My family will keep all of you in our prayers and hope all can get home safe and soon. May the ash clear and all of you come together soon.
Thanks again

My husband is not down range, but I feel you gals pain! Been there done that too many times to mention. What I will mention is OPSEC...getting a little dicey on here. Just a friendly reminder! Fingers crossed for all of you! I am in the UK right now and it is madness (we are stationed here) for folks trying to get here or back to the states. Good luck all!!!

I too am waiting for my husband, but, I rather know he is safe, and that the wounded soldiers are taken care of first! We need to stop being so selfish! As much as I want to see my husband, I understand that R&R is a privilege, not mandated. So, if he cannot make it, I get it is for safety reasons, and that is something I can deal with.

For Lupita...this war is not because of Bush or anyother President. It started back in Sept. 2001 when they attacked us on our own soil. My son-in-law is in Afghanistan and I am so proud of him. My husband is in the Army and I am proud of him. We do want our soldiers home safe and sound and if it means to delay them coming home to assure their safety then so be it.

The casualty of war is that there are those that die...but in reality we have lost less than we did in the past when we were in Vietnam or during either of the World Wars. Instead of slamming our government, we might as well support them. If we don't like what they are doing then we have the opportunity to vote in a new administration in 4 years.

I just want to say that NO ONE IS BEING SELFISH for wanting their loved ones home. This war should have ended a long time ago but because of BUSH our loved ones out there getting MURDERED. I pray every day that our TROOPS return home and this war ends.

I am waiting for my husband to get home too. He has been gone for a year! I understand everyone's frustration, but I would rather him get home safe! I have been sitting in this hotel because I moved back home when he deployed to be with my family. I wish more than anything that they could reroute him. I took a week off school to be here. We all need to pray that all of our soldiers make it home SAFE! Hopefully they will find a solution soon! I just hope that I can see him before I have to go back. Let's all pray for all of soldiers to make it home safely!

I don't have a loved one in Afghanistan but I can imagine the frustration of not knowing when or how they will be coming home. This has affected everybody all over the world. The ash is there as my car and many others are covered in it right now. Safety is the main concern and I would think that our soldiers are as frustrated and as eager to get home as everybody wants them home. It will take time, but they will be home soon. More to celebrate when they do come home 🙂

I'm twiddling my thumbs, waiting to hear anything from my husband in Kuwait. He is supposed to be coming home on leave right now, too. I'm due to have a baby this week and was hoping he would be able to be here. Maybe not. Oh, well. That's life in the military!

as far as taking routes home through different countries... it is up to those countries whether or not we can bring additional troops through their airspace, even if we have bases there. It is still their country, and they have a right to not have more foreign troops in their country than what they agreed to....
@ "The world is round": Don't you think military planners would have already thought of going the other way? And if you are talking about taking a ship... do you know how long it would take via ship to get back to the US?

@Pissed Off: Sorry to hear that your son and his squad were injured, and I hope they get well soon... but If you read the article it states that the wounded troops that would usually be flown to Germany are being flown to Andrews directly... so, I don't know who you think is showing "disservice". As far as shuttling to a different country for medical care, we would have to have their permission.

To these airline companies beside the military, "Quit yer bellyachin!" These plane company are complaining about loosing money each day due to Volcano ash spewing. You plane companies charges on everything, Overhead fee, luggage fees. flight fee. I am gonna bet you gonna say Ash removal fee. Where did all the money go when you started charging these stoopid fees? So use that and cover your lost but don't put the blame on these people who flies and gotten stuck on where they are. Be nice to them and provide to these passengers since they fookin paid their flights already!

my husband was due home last week, but he's still stuck in Germany. we have plans to go places this coming weekend... i hope he gets home soon. the worst part of it all is explaining to our young daughter that her daddy can't come home right now.

Do they really have to fly west back to U.S. via Europe?
They can fly east towards Asia and land at one of many at their military bases to refill and continue via pacific ocean back to U,S. The process is longer, but it works, I've read that if passengers can do that, why can't the military?

I am sure that this stuff is a little above me, since I really have not air space planning experience. But this I do know, Christopher Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue and discovered that the world was not flat it is in fact round, so why the heck are our service members confined to only going home one way?

My son and his Stryker driver were both injured and require more medical treatment than can be is available and could be provided at the field hospital. You mean to tell me there is no way to shuttle these heros somewhere so they can get the additional treatment. This is a just one more disservice to all those who put their lives on the line everyday!!!

For why we have not re-pouted military flights through Spain, Ask Spain. They would not even let us fly through their airspace back when we bombed the Terrorist training camps before Desert storm.
In simple Terms Spain hinders our military every chance it gets. I do not know why.

I just don't understand why military flights bringing loved ones home can't be rerouted. I can't believe that our intelligence is so sophisticated that one thing has tied our military's hands and cannot do anything. Someone please get this fixed now!!!/ They found several flights when they were deploying my husband. Also I viewed the Kuwait Airport and noticed that there are at least three flights a day from there directly to the US that have not been canceled and have safely arrived over th epast three days!!

I would imagine the Afghanistan people are really thankful for the silence in the war zones across Afghanistan. Fewer civilian deaths, fewer aerial bombings of towns, fewer patrols of soldiers armed with machine guns and kicking in the doors of the Afghanistan civilians.

I also imagine the children in Afghanistan appreciate this time when they can come outside and be children if it is just for two days of silence.

An idea with many problems. Yes, Rota Naval Station is still running and in the 80s and 90s was going good. Not much of a hospital there (I spent time there so I know). Start running a lot more planes through there for how long? They used to have Torrejon AB and Zaragoza AB (near Madrid) and they are a bigger base with more facilities but we closed them down. Could use Moron AB but there 'ain't nothing there so? Anyways it takes$$$ to start running many more planes through there and for how long? Could use Lajes in the Azores but again lots o planes being stacked up and the facilities for the people. Guess they could split it, half to go to Rota, Lajes and the other half to go East through Turkey on to Japan then the US. Here's an idea cause I got to run the 'Pinatubo' evacuations and it just might work, Use the Aircraft Carriers to move people, I'm just kidding anyway, it's a nightmare onboard.

Why can't the military route soldiers through Spain? My brother is stuck in Iraq and is supposed to arrive in the United States a week from today. A flight was supposed to arrive at the military base today but is being pushed back to Tuesday.

Our son too is stuck in Kuwait. He just finished his deployment in Afgahn, and was supposed to be back in the states Sunday evening. First we got word that they were delyad just one day, then late last night an email stating that all flights had been postponed with no idea on when they will be reschedueld.Never thought that a volcano would be the reason that his homecoming woiuld be delayed. Good to know, however, that our wounded troops are getting a way out!!!

I know that we want our soldiers/sailors home quickly and safely. I'can't believe what you wrote. My interpretation is, my husband is due home (healthy) and is being delayed because of weather or whatever. The military has figured out an alternate route for the injured, why can't they fly my husband out via Kuwait. Today,as it has been for the past two decades and more, this is a volunteer army. A large majority of us spouses were very aware as we were dating or already married what "we" were getting into. There is nothing worse to a spouse that chose to be in service or career military to hear a whiney spouse telling him he should get out, especially if he loves him/her. It undermines their morale, creates more stress, and problems in a marriage and makes the soldier/sailor vulnerable by creating a distraction in a war zone. So put your selfish concern's for your wanting your husband home (of course that's where he wants to be too), realize it's out of his control, stop whining and make the best of it. Our troops that are injured need the space on Medivac flights more than a 'healthy' soldier/sailor heading home even if it is his/her time for rotation.

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